The estuarine lagoon and freshwater wetlands of Kah Tai are the remains of an extensive estuary to Port Townsend Bay. What survives today, though diminished, is a remarkably tranquil oasis, not wilderness but still wild. The original intent of its creation should be respected, so that this gem in the heart of our community is preserved in perpetuity.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

resting place

There's a boat at the lagoon, even though boats are not allowed on the lagoon according to the Shoreline Master Program. The boat looks comfortable, settled in, as though it belongs. The birds love it.

I'd heard rumors of how the boat ended up there and decided to ask someone who knew, unequivocally, how it appeared. Here, verbatim, is the story.

"Sometime
during the last century (not this one, the last one) a couple of
hippies moved to PT in search of peace and love. They settled in on the
hillside above Kah Tai Lagoon. Their first visitors were a couple from
even further up the hill, who had arrived the year before. Turned out
that they (the 2nd couple. no, the first couple. I mean the old timers,
not the newcomers) had a venerable old wooden boat in their basement
that needed a new home (they were not boat people). The very Boat. They
all joined hands, sang a few rounds of Jambalaya, (or We Shall Overcome,
or something) and moved the Boat to the driveway of couple number 2 (I
mean the newcomers) where it served, upside down, for 225 years (that
might be a misprint) as a cheap but worthy shelter for all manner of
treasure and junk.

Time
passed, the Battle of Kah Tai Lagoon was waged and won, dreams came and
went, people were born and people died. Peace and love were found in
moderation, fitting and sufficient for the times. The Boat endured,
unaffected by all that.

When
Ms Newcomer died, late in that century of which I speak, friends and
acquaintances gathered on the hillside to eat and drink and celebrate.
In a flash of inspiration, the entire party picked up The Boat, loaded
with the spirit of Ms Newcomer, and carried it lovingly to the edge of
the Lagoon, and pushed it from the shore, to find its resting place
amongst the reeds. There is nothing more to tell."

2 comments:

And au contraire, there's a lot more to tell, that never has been told. Some of it perhaps synthesized in the regular appearances of Ms. Newcomer and Ms. Oldtimer at City Council and Planning Commission meetings, sitting in the front row, taking notes (and, in the cae of Ms. Newcomer, constantly muttering under her breath, "Bulls**t") -- all the while, busily knitting ("They're making shrouds for us, just like Madame Defarge").

And in all the histories, I've never once seen the name of Rick Aramburu, our feisty Seattle lawyer, whose noble efforts should never be forgotten -- as well as the fact that he forgave us the last $3000 of our enormous legal debt.

As for the boat, I think about it often. Kah Tai is a beautiful place, but like Wallace Stevens' jar, the boat "takes dominion everywhere". For me, at least

"And au contraire, there's a lot more to tell, that never has been told".

too true, and thanks for the image of the Knitting Furies. Power trembled under their gaze, and nary a stitch did they drop.

And all of Power's little children loved them in their clown suits, peddling baloons along the streets during Rhododendron Parade. Little did the innocent kiddies know they were Saving Kah Tai with their quarters.

As for Aramburu - just a glimpse: 5'4", 120lbs, heart of green gold and nerves of steel, he strode into the courtroom with his fresh-faced assistant to challenge Safeway and the boys, and hung his white cowboy hat on the hatrack inside the door (next to the black fedoras of Safeway's Bogle & Gates hacks) as if he owned the place. In the following 15 years, he never wavered in his defense of Kah Tai, winning 3 out of 4 for the good guys.

Good Links

Contact

Kah Tai 2012

An excellent overview of earlier efforts to preserve Kah Tai Lagoon Nature Park can be found here.

Kah Tai public presentations

Admiralty Audubon's November 17, 2011 program was a Kah Tai status update. Thirty-some people attended to hear about the RCO recommendation, the NPS ruling that includes all 78.5 acres of Kah Tai in the 6(f) boundary, and the Port's lawsuit against the City, RCO and NPS in an attempt to overturn that ruling.

Admiralty Audubon featured a presentation by Rick Jahnke on 17 February 2011, which included a history of the Park's creation and current attempts to develop the uplands. We estimated 40-50 attendees.

The Sierra Club of the North Olympic Peninsula presented a talk on the history of Kah Tai at their first Port Townsend general gathering, 22 January 2011. Rick Jahnke included a history of the Park's creation and current attempts to develop the uplands. We counted about 40 attendees in a standing-room-only crowd at the Community Center.

A roomful of Port Townsend citizens (we counted 65) attended a presentation on 25 August 2010. The warm-up music included two great protest songs written especially for fundraising to save Kah Tai in the late 1970s. Several visual displays highlighted the history of the struggle to protect Kah Tai from development incursions.